Festival lights a fire of identity

LOUISA RUST

A GROUP of young people from the southern suburbs of Wollongong had some lessons with a difference last week, when they learned the art of fire twirling as part of the Southside Festival.

The Southside Festival, held last Saturday, is an annual community-based event that aims to bring together the different communities of the southern suburbs to promote diversity and a sense of belonging.

Over the past five years, there have been festival activities in Berkeley, Warrawong, Port Kembla and Cringila, attracting thousands of people.

This year, the event was held at the Coomaditchie Lagoon in Kemblawarra, and it attracted nearly 2000 people.

Jen Newton, community development worker with Barnardos and part of the organising committee for the festival, said the fire-twirling lessons were part of the festival’s aim to leave a legacy to the local community.

“With the Southside Festival we try always try to leave something good behind,” she said. “Last year, it was a wood-fired community oven in Cringila Park to make bread.

“This year, young kids will be trained in fire twirling so they can perform at the festival and at future events, and it may even lead into employment opportunities in the future.”

Children participating in the fire- twirling workshop and performance were mainly from the Bundaleer Housing Estate in Warrawong and surrounding areas.

Ms Newton said the funding for the fire-twirling lessons had come from a not-for-profit organisation, Beyond Empathy, which aims to use the arts to influence change.

The lessons were taught by Hemlock Mejarne, who travelled from Queensland for the occasion.

As well as fire twirling, other attractions at Saturday’s festival included performances by the former Australian Idol winner Casey Donovan, Circus Solaris, the Shellharbour Aboriginal Community Youth Association’s (SACYA) Lil Nargens, the Wadi Wadi Mixed Tribe Indigenous Dancers, African drumming, and rope fire drawings.

Also at the event was an outdoor café run by the Port Kembla men’s group MENTOR and demonstrations of bush regeneration techniques by Bushcare co-ordinators.

Ms Newton said the event had been a huge success.

“It was fantastic – it was a brilliant night,” she said. “The crowd was fantastic and Casey Donovan live was incredible. People also expressed interest in learning more about the environment around the lagoon.”

Members of the Coomaditchie United Aboriginal Corporation who helped organise the event took the opportunity to ask people to sign a pledge to commit to caring for the local environment.

“Our lagoon is a special place to us and we love sharing it with the rest of the community, but its sad when it gets damaged through reckless actions,” Narelle Thomas of the corporation said.